All mothers get nervous when it comes time to send their kids off for the first day of school, but this day is particularly scary for moms of special needs kids. That’s exactly the situation that Christina Swartz of Morristown, Tennessee just found herself in when it came time for her autistic sixth grade son Kadin Templin to go back to school.

Not only does Kadin have autism, he also has a rare genetic disorder that has caused him to undergo 24 surgeries since birth. The medication he has to take makes him gain weight, which has led to him being bullied at school in the past.

“I always worry about kids his age bullying him,” Christina said. “I mean I’ve heard grown adults say things under their breath about Kadin.”

In prior years, Kadin went to the same elementary school as his 9-year-old sister Emma, who was always there to protect him from bullies. Now, however, they’ve been separated, as Kadin has entered middle school having to deal with all new teachers and classmates as well as a new building all alone. His personality makes him friendly to everyone he meets, which isn’t a popular way to act among kids his age.

“He thinks EVERYONE is his friend and doesn’t understand not everyone wants a hug, and not everyone is nice,” said Christina. “He tends to get talked into doing things because he doesn’t know he’s not supposed to because he wants to feel included so bad.”

Christina waited all day for Kadin to come home, and when he finally walked in the door, he told her he’d made two new friends: Officer Ortiz and Mama T, a custodian. Hours later, a friend sent Christina a Facebook message along with a photo that brought her to tears.

Christina had no idea that the Hamblen County Department of Education had shared a photo of Kadin along with Officer Ortiz along with the caption, “Sometimes first days of school are stressful. Thank you for your love and assistance Officer Ortiz.”

“To see an adult, a stranger at the time to Kadin, get down on his level and try to be there for him when he felt stressed meant the world to me,” she said, adding that she immediately messaged Ortiz to thank him for what he did.

“When I told him what Kadin said about him being his new best friend his exact words were, ‘I’m so excited and honored to be called his friend. This is the things that matter in life. He is special to me the very moment I met him,’” she added. “It really touched my heart someone can be there for him and understand Kadin has such a big loving giving heart!”

It gave Christina great comfort to know that Kadin has someone like Ortiz there to help him adjust to his new school.

“What I really hope people take from this photo is … a child with special needs like autism might look like a normal child from the outside,” she said. “And no we don’t want to handicap them. But, they need extra love, attention, and compassion.”